Roosting height for orpingtons

[ColtHandorf]

That was my assumption. How old are they if they are still sleeping in piles on the floor? I have one adult Silver-laced Orpington hen that prefers to be in her nest box on the ground for sleeping. But all the rest perch. Sometimes the new additions take a couple of days to figure it out at bed time, especially if they aren't used to roosting.

 

[jinpark8282]

I assume they are quite young.

Almost 6 months
Tonight I showed them that they can sleep up on the roost.
So maybe they might learn from this?

 

[aart]

Almost 6 months
Tonight I showed them that they can sleep up on the roost.
So maybe they might learn from this?

View attachment 2505595

How old are they, in weeks?
How big is that coop....is there room to fly up and down without crashing into something?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

The silkie won't be able to get on as high of roost as the real chickens in your flock.

 

[jinpark8282]

For my height on my coop it is 4 ft at one end and 3.5ft at the back. Right now i have the roost going from high end to low end. I might re do the roost so that it is on the 4 ft side.

 

[ColtHandorf]

Tonight I showed them that they can sleep up on the roost.
So maybe they might learn from this?

Yes, I have noticed my English Orpingtons are more than content to sleep in a pile on the floor until I teach them to go to bed on the roosts. This usually involves a week of me assisting until most of them figure it out. Once the majority of the birds in that age group figure it out the rest will follow. Adults roosting doesn't seem to result in them getting up there on their own.

The silkie won't be able to get on as high of roost as the real chickens

That made me laugh. My goofy one can't use a ladder with rungs, it has to be a solid ramp.

 

[jinpark8282]

Good new Everyone they finally got it and started to sleep on the roost.
Seems like they just needed time to figure it out.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Good new Everyone they finally got it and started to sleep on the roost.
Seems like they just needed time to figure it out.

That's always the way and there is no set time for them to gravitate to roosts. They aren't machines. They are individual animals that feed us breakfast.